Call For Baby Blankets

We got so involved in the program last week that Nancy Snow's announcement got forgotten.

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First United Methodist Church (which provides us with a meeting room) is in need of small knitted or crocheted baby blankets.  A blanket is given to each baby baptized.  If you feel inclined to make a baby blanket for the church, please bring it to a Guild meeting.  Thanks.
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I just checked on Ravelry.  They have 3,782 FREE baby blanket patterns listed today.  That's 1,921 knitted blankies and 1,831 crocheted blankies, 79 pages worth.  I didn't filter out any yarn sizes, needle sizes, or blanket sizes.  I suspect that even the pickiest needleperson could find one in that vast sea of choices.



I'm partial to the Happy Baby Blanket #829 (knit) from Lion Brand but then I'm a big yarn, big needles kind of girl.







I like this Chevron Baby Blanket from Purl Bee (more big yarn, big needles) too,





or there's the Around the Rosy baby blanket if you'd like to crochet one (sport weight yarn, so pretty and sweet).



So if you've got a few extra skeins of yarn and a little time on your hands maybe you can find a pattern that you like and make a blanket for a new baby's baptism. Every baby needs a warm and snuggly blanket to be wrapped up in, don't you think? 
 

Knitting in The Park with Wire and Beads

I knit with wire!  We all knit with wire!  Twenty-five people turned out for the BLKG meeting in St. James Park last night to learn how to knit a shawl pin with wire.  The knitting's pretty much the same as regular knitting but there were a few changes particular to the medium--like you can't tension the wire through your fingers like you do with yarn yarn--and you have to tug the knitting away from the needle every once in a while so that the stitches form and you can see what you're doing.  Andy had two choices of shawl pin kits--multicolored and pearls--it was hard to choose, both made pretty shawl pins.
 
We had varying degrees of traumatic wire tangling around the circle but Andy was a calming help with her trusty cardboard tube that she used to recoil the misbehaving wire and get the project back on track. Our kits even included a little dowel so that when we're done knitting we'll have a shawl pin ready to use.  Thanks, Andy, that was very thoughtful.

What a fun program!

Knit With Wire in Three More Days!!!

This coming Thursday, July 10 will be the July Knit-in-the-Park meeting of the Bay Lakes Knitting Guild.  Knit Doctor will be available at 6:30 PM if you're stuck on a project and the meeting begins at 7 PM.

The program on Thursday will be Andy teaching us how to Knit With Wire.  I hope you remembered to email her to sign up because you're going to want to play along.

Andy knitted her shawl pin Design-A-Thon entry with US 8 plastic needles but says you can use any type of straights--wood, metal, bamboo, plastic--maybe not your very favorite ones but she hasn't noticed any damage to the ones she used.  Do not go out and buy size 8 needles if you don't have any or can't find any, US 7 or US 9 will work just fine.  It's a shawl pin, not brain science!  I'm looking forward to it, aren't you?
 
Be sure to bring $2 cash to pay her for your kit.

(Remember Monroe Ave. is under construction so you need to access Jackson Square Park via Madison St., also they've removed the benches and picnic tables from the park so don't forget a chair.)